"Irresponsible talk about choosing between Russia and EU"

"Irresponsible talk about choosing between Russia and EU"

"It means not forgetting and turning our back on our old friends, but wanting to expand the circle of new ones. For that reason, let nobody scare you with the EU! This government knows very well where Serbia should go and where the goal is, in order to leave to our children a better, more decent, secure, modern,and European Serbia."

According to Mihajlovic, it is "a fallacy" advanced by "irresponsible and spent politicians" that the country will have to choose between Russia and Europe - "just as it is a fallacy that if we continue on the EU path women will not be able to walk in the street for fear of being raped by migrants."

She further wrote that "we want standards like those in place in developed countries" including in education, healthcare, transport, and infrastructure, and "a more efficient judiciary, stronger economy, more modern administration," along with "more work, and with that, higher salaries!"

"We need the EU in order to prove to ourselves and to others our capabilities, but also to show our history and tradition," Mihajlovic said, illustrating this point by adding that the country needs "both sajkacas (traditional Serbian hats) and laptops," and mentioning various traditional dishes and food products from Serbia and from elsewhere in Europe in the same context.

Addressing the declining trust shown by Serbians toward the EU and "the greater than ever number of opponents of our European road," she said this should be every responsible politician's serious cause for concern.

Mihajlovic writes that latest opinion polls showing the declining trust in the EU are particularly worrying, as it comes at a time "this government and Premier Aleksandar Vuci made a key and huge step and opened the first (EU accession) negotiation chapters."

"I would be unfair not to admit that a good part of the responsibility for the fall of the trust of citizens of Serbia in the Union is down to the EU itself. Citizens' perception is that EU is constantly asking something of Serbia, without giving anything in return. I know that citizens are worried also about the way the EU has behaved during the crisis, I am convinced that a majority of citizens of Serbia do not support EU's sanctions toward Russia. Another concern is the Union's inability to provide a united response to the migrant crisis and occasional suspensions of the Schengen agreement," said Mihajlovic.